Eumundi Voice - Issue 106, 14 November 2024

MEET A ROTARIAN

Meet Marie Robins: A remarkable life

Marie Robins has been a part of Eumundi for 43 years and is an active member of the Rotary Club of Eumundi. Her life has been full of variety and adventure. At a recent Rotary meeting we were privileged to hear some of her life story. This is an abridged version of Marie’s story … I never thought much about what I was going to do when I grew up, until one day I saw a fellow typing on an ancient typewriter. I was mesmerised and instantly knew I wanted to be a typist. At 16yo I joined the Bank of NSW as a shorthand-typist where I worked for 5 years before marrying a “bank Johnny” in 1963. We had 3 children and became part of the floating population, moving between Brisbane, Boonah, Oakey, Cairns, Biloela, Mackay, Noosa, Cairns and Kingaroy. For 10 years I was a stay-at-home mum which I loved – playing lots of tennis, squash, morning teas and outings with other bank wives and kids.

In Biloela I was ready to look for a job. I became a typist for a solicitor. There were no electric typewriters in those days, making it a mammoth task to type long documents without a mistake. My job lasted 3 years until our next transfer. My wage was $3/hour and I always finished at 3pm to be home for the kids. During that time I became a Justice of the Peace.

In Mackay I then worked for the Education Department in Special Education as a teacher aide.

Next was Noosa. I worked for solicitors and learnt how to use an electric typewriter. It was heaven! Computers had also just come on the scene. I became interested in body corporates and we

bought our block of land in Eumundi.

After 5 years in Noosa, it was back to Cairns where I again worked for solicitors until I realised no one in Cairns knew anything about body corporates. After introducing myself to solicitors and developers, Cairns Body Corporate Services was born. My first office was our bedroom. It was ‘boom-time’ in Cairns due to many units being built. Six months later, I took a business partner and we moved into an office in town. When my husband was transferred again, my partner bought the business. Next was Kingaroy where I sold real estate for 5 years.

My husband retired in 1990 and we acquired a gold mine between Georgetown and Forsayth. I spent a lot of time in Brisbane and only drove up every couple of months to help.

In Brisbane I worked for a body corporate until I set up my own business at Yeronga with a partner. In December our real estate agent rang to say our tenants in our Eumundi home had shot through, leaving behind all their cooking equipment. So began our next venture, Sunrise Cookies …

Our speciality was very large biscuits with nuts and chocolate chips on top. They were the first of the large cookies you buy today. We also made gingerbread loaves and ginger biscuits for the Buderim Ginger Factory.

Early Monday morning we would pack the car and drive to Brisbane delivering boxes of cookies to hospitals, universities and speciality cafes. Once a month I delivered to Toowoomba and then down the range to Brisbane. After my deliveries I worked at the body corporate in

Yeronga until Wednesday before driving home to Eumundi.

The 3 days I was away, my husband cooked for the Ginger Factory. On my return we would bake all the biscuits needed for the following week’s delivery. We cooked over 70,000 biscuits. We sold both the cookie and body corporate business to relocate to Mataranka in the Northern Territory for 6 months to help look after our newly born triplet grandchildren plus their older sister. We stayed for 12 years.

In December 1995, we moved near Katherine Gorge. I worked at the Nitmiluk Visitors Centre for the next 5 years, while looking after our beautiful grandchildren.

During this time, we built 2 coach camps and leased them out to a tour company catering for overseas backpackers.

In 2002, we acquired Heli-Muster – an aviation helicopter business based on Victoria River Downs Station. In May 2006, we sold it and returned home to Eumundi.

When I look back on my life, it amazes me how things turned out. My proudest achievements are my family and writing a book called The Augathella Story: Through the Years about the history of Augathella.

By the way, I still love typing! Marie Robins